The Near East

 I mentioned the posh(ish) wedding in Richmond, didn't I? Well, it went very well, but I'll gloss over the horrendous beer experience and say I enjoyed it all the same. I will just have my little rant though. Why do otherwise nice hotels sell such dross? The only draught beer - and there was precious little in bottles or cans - Becks at £8 a short measure pint, served warm through a home dispense unit! Not even a Lindr, which at least would have done the trick properly. Answers not needed. It's because they can.

On Saturday after the do, it was a late start. I was convinced, since I felt so odd, that I'd contracted Covid, but a full English, followed by lots of coffee, followed by - a little later - some beer. I eventually rationalised that I was merely hungover from a mix of prosecco, Swiss bottled beer, white wine, red wine and Becks. It is at least to my credit, I think, that I don't usually drink enough to be hungover, so I'd kind of forgotten what it is like. Did I miss out the sense of doom? That too.

The day was however sunny and warm, so early afternoon we had a walk along a very busy Brick Lane to Bethnall Green Road and hence to the Well and Bucket. Largely because of Covid, we hadn't been there for ages, and we bagged a seat outside and people watched. Camden Hells for both of us. The amber nectar restored me to some kind of equilibrium as we watched Hell's Angels, who were gathering, warn each other by hand signals of a police trap ahead and gazed at the extraordinary mixture of people who passed by.

Thus refreshed we headed for Shoreditch Tube Station and, via a rather run down cut through, to the fabulous Commercial Tavern on Commercial Road. This Grade two listed building is very imposing and has obviously been rescued from an early death. Its bare interior shows that it was likely stripped out in the past, but its elegant build, wooden floors and large windows, make for a fantastic boozer.  No room outside on this hottest of days, but with wide open doors and a pleasing draught, inside was better anyway. Beers were mainly from Camden, so back to Hells for us both. We had a couple there, and I can see us using it regularly, especially in winter, when we might be able to trust the cask.

Next up was another old London pub, the Duke of Wellington on Toynbee St, this one rather modernised, but still cosy and attractive inside. There was a little beer garden too, from which much merriment from a bunch of geezers could be heard.  No cask beer, but a huge array of mainly undistinguished keg beer, leavened by that rarest of beasts these days, Hoegaarden on tap. Probably not at its freshest, but a nice change.

Heading homewards, one last call before food. The Pride of Spitalfields needs no introduction, and we sat inside, as there was standing room only outside in the street. It really is a smashing little boozer. We also learned that only the bit directly outside the pub is allowed for drinking. Don't cross the road. We sat inside anyway, so all was well.

Near home, we nipped into the Efes Restaurant for a fine Turkish meal, washed down with a bottle of Efes Draft. The  restaurant is well recommended. The beer? Not so much.

In case you are wondering why no cask? This answer yesterday to Ben Viveur explains my logic. "In fairness Ben, a heatwave in London isn't a great time to drink cask and at the prices charged you dont want expensive dumpers." I'll wait until colder weather Folks.

Next up. A few Bermondsey tap rooms and a pub. 

Slightly Grudging Praise of Tennents Lager

I was in Scotland last week to see off my late mother's flat - you know - help my sister with all the  remaining bits and pieces  and discuss old photos of goodness knows who, as not only are the subjects of the photos all deceased, everyone who knows who they were are too. Very sobering and a reminder - hardly needed - that all paths lead ultimately in one inexorable direction.

Sounds like an excuse for a drink eh? Well I certainly thought so. I started off on the first night with a visit to the Captain James Lang, our local Dumbarton JDW.  Cask to me has been hit and miss in there, despite its Good Beer Guide status, but they had Adnams beer on. I like Adnams. Proper beer it is.  Adnams Nut Brown Ale and rather good it was too.  Typical Adnams taste and more complex than I'd reckoned on it being. A beer that made you think. Chatting with my non drinking sister, I found three pints weren't a hardship. For a proper description of the beer, see the Beer Nut here. I concur with his findings, even though these days, I'm more of a "good or shite" beer describer and as a rubbish blogger, I rarely take notes; rather I rely on my phone for photos of what I drank and my memory for how much I liked them. Not an entirely reliable modus operandi. Trust me on that one. 

Due to an unexpected funeral which I wasn't involved in, family plans were put aside the next day. I decided a little trip to Glasgow would fill the hiatus.  Charing Cross area was just a hop away on the train, chosen mainly for the State Bar and the Bon Accord - where - and I have mentioned this before - I had my first ever cask beer in 1974. But firstly the Griffin opposite the Kings Theatre. Years since I've been in there - all wood and glass with an old and comfy interior and a horseshoe bar.  One other customer in only, reading the paper and drinking a pint of Tennents, so at least I knew it had been recently poured.  Duly ordered from a silent barmaid - no warm welcome there - it was cold and gassy, so I swirled to release some carbon dioxide, knowing that if the pipes are clean, there was a chance to get something good from this Scottish standard. It wasn't bad after an atmosphere of CO2 was dismissed, but not hitting the mark. My solitary drinking companion left with no goodbyes exchanged. I entertained myself by watching a glum faced stocktaker, take all bottles down from the gantry and solemnly inspect by eye before noting the contents on a sheet. It was soothing stuff as he tutted his way around the bar.  Finally, my pint finished, I slunk out casting my eye without success for the now disappeared barmaid.  Like my erstwhile fellow imbiber, I too, left unnoticed for pastures new.

Just up the road is Henglers Circus, a large, bright L shaped Wetherpoon bar, which although it has a fair bit of low level chairs and tables, would be much improved by some bench seating. It was quite pubby with plenty of folks of varying ages dotted around, chatting, eating, reading the paper or just watching passers by through the large windows looking out to Sauchiehall St, where, and this happens a lot, they were digging up the street in my honour.  The greeting was very warm and friendly and unbidden the barman after ascertaining I wanted beer, rattled through the offerings.  By way of compare and contrast, I had a very decent pint of St Mungo from West Brewing in Glasgow.  I took in the pleasant atmosphere and enjoyed a leisurely people watching. I didn't have the cask, but some did and I know from past visits it is reliable enough to deserve its GBG entry.

A mere hop and a skip away is the State Bar, renowned in real ale circles. Well Glasgow ones anyway. I used to regularly sup there in 1976 when I did my Supplementary Benefit training in nearby Pitt St.  Then it was an all chrome and black keg bar and looked nothing like the traditional pub it is now. Odd if you think about it.  Only half a dozen in and again not much of a greeting, but GBG form Fyne Ales Everyone Loves Simcoe made up for that as did bumping into an acquaintance of mine. The beer world is small really.

My intended final stop was the Bon Accord just over the M8.  Busy and welcoming - big smiles and hellos - and beer from one of my favourite breweries, Stringers. Yellow Lorry was in Good Beer Guide form as I was drawn into a discussion on an inadvertently locked down laptop.  This widened with plenty of people offering solutions, but it still wasn't working when I left 45 minutes later. This pub never disappoints even if Hewlett Packard laptops do.

Now I know you are asking yourself. "What about the Tennents?"  I had intended to go back to Dumbarton at that point, but seeing a pub sign down a side street by the Mitchell library,I couldn't resist. The Avalon is odd. Just check out the reviews. Inside, like a souped up scene from Still Game, a few denizens chatted to each other by the simple process of bawling  in jokes and asides at a volume wholly incommensurate with the size of the pub. The barmaid was friendly enough and as the range of beers on offer was more than limited, I opted for Tennents Lager.  It was a cracking pint. Clean, fresh and very enjoyable. CO2 levels were good and as I surveyed the slightly down at heel boozer, I felt content, swigging mouthfuls of TL and listening to the patter.

Resisting the temptation for more I headed for home. Back in Dumbarton as I left the station I entered what used to be McCafferty's Railway Tavern.  I was a regular there many moons ago when it was actually run by Hugh McCafferty. Many a pint of McEwan's Export was consumed in there back in the day. Now it is a recently opened Indian Buffet Restaurant called Haveli having been closed for a number of years.  Now I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of eating, but it was handy and five minutes walk from home.  Apart from four women it was just me, but I had one of the best lamb bhunas I have ever had and one of the best pints of, you've guessed it, Tennents Lager.  The welcome was great too from the waiter and his dad who had cooked the bhuna.

Tennents Lager is no Augustiner Helles, but when not over gassed it is a full bodied, clean beer with a slight ting of hops.  Sadly too often it is not sold at its best.

 I met with a pal the next night in the Henry Bell in Helensburgh. This normally reliable GBG entry offered me two pretty undrinkable pints, though both charmingly exchanged. I reverted to gin and when the crew from RFA Fort Victoria arrived mob handed from HM naval base at Faslane, we avoided the hordes at the bar by using the  JDW app. Brilliant.

My last disappointment was on the way home when the Smoking Fox just outside Central Station had swapped the delicious Heidi-Weisse from West for Blue Moon. WTF?

Sheffield

Apart from two visits to the Sheffield Tap (see below) I also thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the Hillsborough Hotel, handily placed on the tram route. The highlight there was the Hillsborough Pale, which in my view was one of the best pints of the year so far. Slightly reminiscent of Marble Pint, but a bit more rounded and less harshly bitter, it was hard to move on from. Sadly, Brooklyn Bridge was disappointingly bland on this sampling. The pub itself is a cracker too and with Hillsborough Pale at £2.20 a pint, it was certainly value for money. Good food and fantastic service from the matronly barmaids who knew their stuff, rounded it all off nicely.

I was a bit disappointed with the Wellington though. None of the beers were sparkled and the Little Ale Cart beers I tried seemed just a touch off the boil - in fact one had to be changed. Things didn't look up either with Steel City's Černý Bez - Dva, which seemed to have missing the thing they are most famous for - hops. The lack of a sparkler did little for it either. None of the beers were by any means bad, but all lacked that little bit extra that you come to expect from these two breweries.

Still that spoiled nothing, as even the best don't hit it off all of the time.

Sheffield's tram network is excellent and unlike Manchester's which is mostly a light railway, a proper tram system.

All Bar One

South Manchester, the domain of Clarkey* and his pals, is a bit of an unknown quantity to me. I don't often go there and don't really know it that well, but visit I did on Saturday afternoon. My destination? Chorlton - or Chorlton-Cum-Hardy to give it its full moniker, is the Notting Hill of South Manchester and an area I lived in very briefly, for about three months, more than twenty years ago. Then it was leafy, posh and had one or two decent pubs. Now it is leafy, posher and has loads of new bars, yes, bars to have a go at. None were there when I padded these streets and nor were the Worker's Hand Knitted Yoghurt Co-operatives, Organic Delis and such like which the "yummy mummies" need to make their existence complete. Still they all added colour and variety. Chorlton had changed and to my mind, had changed for the better.

I went with my oldest mate Mike, who was armed with the splendid crawl which appeared in the summer edition of "Beer". Now Mike is of the ilk that when he has a pub crawl in his sticky mitt, deems it essential to follow it to the letter. Thus we started at the only bit of Chorlton I recognised and that's only because the supermarket and railway are still in the same spot. The supermarket then was Safeway, but now is Morrisons. I know we lived near there, but buggered if I know where.

There is much talk about whether bars can replace pubs, or complement them, or just be there for those that want something a bit more modern, trendy, cosmopolitan and different. Chorlton provides at least a circumstantial case, that done well, bars are a great alternative to pubs - sometimes at least. Now it has to be said that on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, with a decent pint in your hand, a place outside on the pavement and the prospect of one of the finest and most compact pub crawls around, it would have taken a dedicated curmudgeon not to enjoy it. This is of course the limiting factor. Outside, pavement drinking and watching the world go by makes these place. Inside they all tended towards the gloomy, constructed as they they all were out of former shops. While gloom may have suited the butcher, baker and candlestick maker of yore and may well suit the trendy young things at night, it would have been a bit of a melancholy experience to be inside in the peeing rain. Still, it wasn't raining and they shone brightly like the sun.

Two things struck me. The cheerfulness and friendliness of the staff, who all seemed genuinely happy to be there and the very high standards of the "offer" generally. Posh food was available in all it seemed. There was a plethora of interesting imported beers in both bottle and on draught and all offered cask ale. Most in fact offered very good cask ale, carefully chosen and in top form. All were amazingly clumped together, as if the bar fairy had carelessly dropped them all from his sack. A lot were next door to each other, which gave an opportunity to compare and contrast and to try and divine why one was chosen by customers over another.

Now here's the thing. While all were enjoyable (bar one) they were all pretty samey and herein lies a possible catch. Pubs, apart from JDW that is, are all different. Bars are superficially at least, much the same. I think then that the "offer" is the distinguishing feature and they fight for custom on that basis. That is a good thing. I have severe doubts if I'd have found them quite so attractive and enjoyable at night with packed, dark interiors and their outside drinking areas dominated by smokers rather than people watchers, but for a different and very pleasant afternoon crawl, it was enjoyable and refreshing.

So what were the highlights? I have to say all were good. The standouts for me were the first stop which was Oddest (there is an Odd and an Odder in Manchester) with stumblingly charming service and superb Mallinson's beer and the two Marble outlets, which frankly, on this showing, served better quality beer than the main brewpub itself. We had one pint that perhaps wasn't at its best, (in Pi I think) though Mike was mollified by a delicious (so he said) asparagus and mushroom pie - yes Pi sells pies! Oh and the title of this piece? One bar, again I can't remember which, had no customers at all. We checked it out. Only Pedigree and Hobgoblin and run of the mill lagers here. Maybe that's why? All the other bars had carefully chosen local ales and a selection of imports. The difference showed. To paraphrase Mr Clinton, "It's the offer stoopid".

I think my conclusion is that when bars are done well, when the circumstances are right and when you can drink outside, bars can be every bit as attractive as pubs. But pub or bar, it is all about the offer.

Despite Mike's best efforts, we missed out quite a few on the crawl, but we'll be back to finish them off. On a sunny Saturday of course.

* No it isn't. See comments!

On and Off the Boil

Even the best of pubs have off days and so it proved yesterday. I met my mate Mike after a visit to the CAMRA Regional Meeting, where the Chief Executive Mike Benner was a guest speaker and was most impressive. His grasp of CAMRA's role as a super complainant and his understanding of the industry and the various pressures on the average drinker inspired me. There is so much going on behind the scenes that I am rethinking a motion I have to the AGM later this week. I left feeling that the campaign has a very able person indeed at the helm and looking forward to a chance to chat to him in Douglas.

Less inspiring was the beer in the Black Horse in Salford, with Mallinson's Tulip and Lytham Gold both being a bit under conditioned. Worse was to follow in the Old Wellington in Shambles Square. This GBG listed pub had no less than seven pumpclips out of eight turned round. The sole offering was Otley O1 which we found hard to finish. A really poor show. It can be depressing to list a lot of bad beer and pubs, but suffice to say that the beer in the Waterhouse (JDW) wasn't great and even the Marble Arch was below par too. (As an aside, the barman advised me the brewers have decided that Dobber should not be served with a sparkler - Odd) On the positive side, The Angel was comfortably above average and only the City Arms provided perfect cask beer.

So as always with the real stuff, you win some and you lose some. It was ever thus, but frustrating all the same.

North Yorkshire

I spent the weekend there with my CAMRA chums and of course, Eileen.  A quick run down of impressions will suffice I think.  The pub scene is relatively thriving. The usual rule applies in that good pubs were really busy and crap ones weren't - not that we spent any time in crap ones - but we did look see a few times.  The cafe bar scene is big there, with modern IKEA furnished places abounding, but as well as food and foreign beers (a must), well chosen cask ales completed the picture. Ripon was big on these, as was Knaresbourgh.  Cask beer was uniformly in good condition, though with a few surprises. John Smith's cask was widely available, as was Theakstons and Black Sheep.

The JDW in Thirsk, where we stayed, was excellent with brisk and friendly service and good beers from the JDW festival list. My usual luck with North Yorkshire weather held. That is, it pissed down, so much so that we just stayed in JDW all night, until we drank them out of the excellent Grumpy, brewed by Port Brewery's Tomme Arthur at Shepherd Neame.  This was resinous, bitter and hoppy with the amarillo hops shining through. No caramel malts to ruin it either. Delicious.

Best pubs were old favourites, Blind Jack's in Knaresborough - heaving on a Saturday lunchtime and The One Eyed Rat in Ripon which had a German beer festival on.  Both are old favourites and "don't miss" destinations.  Best beers? The aforementioned Grumpy, closely followed by Saltaire Bavarian Gold.

The One Eyed Rat was full of us CAMRA types, a visiting (posh) rugby team from Darlington and locals. It was an eclectic mix and the friendliest scene imaginable.  All mixed easily. That's one sign of a good pub. The quality of the offering is another.

Beautiful Bewdley

It seems a bit like ancient history now, but it was only last week, so I better mention Bewdley before my memories fade altogether.

I hadn't been there before, but it is immediately attractive with the Severn flowing through it and lovely old buildings lining its banks - apart that is, from a grim office block on the far bank which should never have been given planing permission. We stayed in the JDW George, a rambling old coaching house. My room was in the rafters and was immensely attractive, though a steep climb up lots of stairs. We tried a couple of the beers in the bar. Not impressive at all was Galbraith's Luncheon Ale from New Zealand (brewed at Everards) as it just seemed a middle of the road brown bitter, but we were happy to find in form Purity Pure Gold, so all was not lost. The young staff here were attentive, cheerful and quick, so credit where it is due.

We spent most of the day on the Severn Valley Railway, so that no-one had to drive and as it was all steam that day, enjoyed the experience, including being pulled by the new Tornado,the first steam loco to be built for donkey's years.  Kidderminster was, by and large,  a forgettable dump, though with a very pleasant railway buffet, restored to GWR splendour and including very decent beer.  Then the long haul to Bridgenorth where we camped out in the buffet there, an old haunt.  Beer was again splendid, apart from a disgusting near the end of cask Northumberland Fuggles Gold.  We complained to no avail and had to buy replacements.  "It is meant to taste like that" being the response.  We left for our train and returned unexpectedly as our train was delayed, to find the Fuggles Gold off and the lines being cleaned. Naughty.

No great pub crawl in the evening. Just three highly recommended pubs, the delightfully busy Mug House for more Purity and Hereford IPA, the Waggon and Horses with Wye Valley Butty Bach and more and the Woodcolliers Arms for a nightcap of real cider from Westons.

Bewdley as an absolute delight . Go there if you can.

The photos show my mate Steve experiencing the Fuggles Gold and a view of Bewdley with the Mug House in the background.

Sedgeley and Halesowen

The Wembley Weekend (see below) is always chosen carefully to maximise the potential of finding decent beer in a variety of good pubs. It doesn't always work out that way, such are the vagaries of cask ale, differing tastes and the quality or otherwise of the local beers we encounter. Worcester and Bewdley looked promising though.

Our first stop - and don't worry this isn't going to be a list of pubs, but a recall of highs and lows - was the excellent little Black Country local, the Bull's Head in Sedgeley. Bustling and busy on a Tuesday lunchtime, the welcome was warm as we exchanged banter with the locals, trying very hard to follow a dialect that was a thick as the crusty cobs we ate. We enjoyed the place a lot and listened to the tale of the local Wetherspoon's being firebombed earlier in the week, with some amazement.  (The Bull's Head is opening at 9 a.m, to compensate the thirsty.) Holden's Mild was a dark delight, though the bitter is too sweet for my taste. The Golden Glow and the Dragon's Blood were both deliciously hoppy and balanced, with the Dragon's Blood being surprisingly pale, though I am sure no-one really knows a dragon's blood's true colour.  Three and a half pints of mild plus four giant cobs - see photo - were just over a tenner.  Value and then some.

Surprisingly our next call, the classic Beacon Hotel, home of Sarah Hughes beers and an old friend to us, was poor. Again busy for a Tuesday lunchtime, the beer was on a low, with the Amber tasting infected and the famous Sarah Hughes Dark being nearly as bad.  We struggled through our beer and beat a hasty retreat. A great pub though and surely just an off day?

Our final pre - Worcester call was another great pub which didn't disappoint.  The Waggon and Horses in Halesowen is a corner street local with fourteen handpumps, foreign beers galore on the bar, four cask ciders, as well as a carefully chosen list of foreign bottles. What's not to like?  The two young lads serving us were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and had obvious pride in what they were doing. They were helpful without being patronising and talked us through what they had on sale and what was on particularly good form. Beers from Nottingham, Oakham and White Lion didn't disappoint. Real Black Country pork scratchings were a perfect if tooth jarring accompaniment. We left with reluctance.


Next was Worcester where the picture changed. For the worse unfortunately.

The giant cobs, filled and I mean filled, with good quality cheddar or ham were £1.20 each!

A Hour Out with Tyson

The Hare and Hounds Beer Festival at Holcombe Brook is the biggest pub beer festival in the country and despite needing two buses and a team of native bearers to get me there, I met Tyson for a review of proceedings.  I'll tell you about the beers later, but most were excellent and all served by handpump, with sparklers as God intended.

After we left the festival we went to Bury to drink some more. Two pubs later, I left slightly the worse for wear, for the 163 bus and home. Tyson was last seen striding to the Metrolink for a tram into town and a pub opening. He is made of much sterner stuff.  I fell asleep on the bus, waking with a start in the middle of nowhere. I didn't recognise a thing, so in my befuddled state jumped off at the next stop, only to discover I was on a dodgy council estate and on the right bus route after all, but nearly three miles from home. The buses are one an hour, so I walked.  Despite it being bandit country I didn't see a soul.

You have to be on blob when drinking with the Beer Hound.  Clearly I wasn't man enough for the task.

Holt's Nine

Ten years ago Holt's Brewery did some special stuff for their chosen charity. I remember paying a fiver to visit the brewery - by and large they don't do tours - and recall visiting the roof where hundreds of hogsheads (54 gallons) were stored. Our CAMRA lot, well some of them, visited nine Holt's pubs on 9/9/99.

Our Membership Sec recreated this yesterday on 09/09/09 and while due to other things I couldn't go on the whole crawl, I joined them for a quick burst of three pubs, two of which I hadn't been in before. The beer was good in all three and I tried both mild and bitter. It was great to see pubs busy at "tea time" and mild flying out across the bar. I haven't drunk Holt's for a little while now, but that'll be rectified. The mild at 3.2% is fairly bitter, but what a good drink. I can't recall the price, but both mild and bitter were substantially under £2 a pint.

For the record, the pubs were:

The Welcome, Whitefield; The Foresters, Prestwich; The White Horse, Prestwich.


The photos were taken last night. The poster just tickled me and was a Fire Brigade warning. Likewise the name of the pub above, still tricked out in Wilson's regalia, amused me too.

In Them Thar Hills

Delph, Diggle, Dobcross, Greenfield and Uppermill. Names that would gladden the heart of any brass band follower and also any beer follower that likes a drop or two. Saturday saw a merry band of stalwarts visiting an area of our CAMRA branch which isn't that far away, but isn't that easy to get to, especially if you want to do a few pubs, other than by bespoke transport.

I won't bore you with a dizzying pub crawl, but instead select a few highlights from an interesting day. Great pubs first of all. Pick of a very good bunch was probably our first stop the Royal Oak, set high above Delph amid splendid scenery. They opened specially for us and we enjoyed superb beers from Skipton and Millstone. Mild played a big part in the day too, with splendid versions from Jennings, Moorhouses and Copper Dragon. Surprise of the day for me was the Tetley Bitter in the King William IV - the King Bill - as they say in these parts. Sour, tart, full bodied and delicious. It reminded me very much of the beer in its heyday, but it has to be said, the cellarmanship here was, as our Yankee friends might say, awesome.

We did of course tend to swoop on the pubs mob handed, though all had been advised in advance, but we were treated ourselves to a mass invasion while at the Railway in Greenfield, as a swarm of Carling drinkers dived off a train. Although pissed they were amiable enough, if a little noisy and I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted your maiden aunt to listen to the songs they sang. Still, we shouted above the noise and drank one of the day's highlights, Elland Beyond the Pale.

Any lowlights? Well sort of. Perhaps the two most disappointing beers for me were from two of our family brewers. Robinsons Dizzy Blonde in the Waggon at Uppermill was very well kept, but just lacked a sure touch with hopping to lift it, while for once, Lees Bitter seemed off the mark and a bit one dimensional in the Cross Keys.

The beer of the day? I couldn't put a micron between Jennings Mild and Moorhouses Black Cat. Both were at the peak of condition, served properly - and you know what that means - and just as fresh as a daisy. Lovely.

I had some lovely photos for you. Unfortunately my camera, which I definitely had in the last pub, can no longer be found. Dear day out.

Spitting Feathers

Chester is an easy one hour train ride from Manchester and the boys from the THT were eagerly anticipating the beery delights therein. We cheerily made our way along the canal to our first stop, Old Harkers Arms, arriving just as the bolts slid back, promptly at half past eleven. Game on. A decent display of beer awaited us and we slid straight into it with three of us opting for Brewers Gold from Crouch Vale which was in excellent form, and one deciding on Landlord. This is an excellent up market pub, with cheery attentive staff and very well kept beer. Even as first customers, it was clear that all the lines had been pulled through to provide fresh beer. Well done. None of this was cheap mind you, with most beers hitting the £3+ mark, but at least the surroundings and the sheer quality of the offering went a long way to justifying it. A shower of rain kept us there for another, with Cheshire No3 from Phoenix being added to those sampled. I also tasted the Weetwood Eastgate Ale, but wasn't impressed by its sharpness, so more Brewers Gold went down red lane instead. Suffice to say the Phoenix beer was bitter and hoppy. We left by a different door and discovered we had missed another bank of six handpumps. Damn. We'd have to come back later!

Further along the Shropshire Union Canal is the Mill Hotel. An odd up market place this, but no slouch on the beer front, with sixteen handpumps primed and ready. The choice was eclectic and bewildering. Beers from Atlas, Cairngorm, Phoenix and Weetwood were tried, but by this time the conversation and ale were flowing, so no tasting notes. There is a lot going on here in this comfortable bar and one thing to mention is price. All the beers were less than £2.50 a pint, some even under £2. Well done.

Next up was the Bear and Billet owned by Manx Brewer Okells. This very old building could probably have been treated a little better inside, but the choice was fairly good, though we all opted for the Okells Bitter which was brown, with honeyed overtones and a good hoppy finish. Old fashioned in a good way. Here though we found that Chester's own Spitting Feathers Brewery Tap had opened its doors for the first time the day before, so we went of course. In a very old building indeed, with a huge high ceiling, an old and I mean very old sandstone fireplace behind the bar, another big room to the side and a distinct smell of paint, this is an excellent almost baronial addition to the Chester scene. Eight handpulls offer a mix of Spitting Feather's own beer and guests, on this visit, from Facers, Titanic, Wentworth and Breconshire, so plenty of choice. We opted for Dave Facer's This Splendid Ale, which was indeed splendid. I am sorry to report that samples of the three Spitting Feathers beers on offer didn't tempt any of us into a purchase. Not bad beers, but really given the excellent beers we had enjoyed, rather ordinary. They need to up their game to match the surroundings of this wonderful boozer.

After this it was culture for the boys with a canter round the Cathedral while I enjoyed a quiet but forgettable pint in the Victoria Inn, a pub of absolutely no redeeming features whatever. Then we made our way back to the station where we called in again to Old Harkers. The place was jumping with office workers enjoying an after work drink and we mopped up some more beer. The Crouch Vale was gone, but by now, in little mood for experimenting, the boys went for Landlord. On a whim - OK, my judgement was impaired by alcohol - I tried a London Pride, served in excellent condition, Northern style, through a sparkler. It didn't disguise at all the underlying honey sweetness of this ordinary beer one bit. Where on earth are the hops?

The train journey home was spent amid a noisy, cheery, but slightly menacing bunch of Welsh speaking, cans of cider drinking, members of the travelling fraternity. Back in Piccadilly, John S and I went across the road to the Bulls Head to await E, whose train was due in an hour. To my chagrin, it appears this ex Burtonwod house has been acquired by Jennings / Marstons. Cumberland Ale was fine, but my back was playing up after Bury Beer Festival and I allowed my mate John to choose my second beer for me. Pedigree is just awful isn't it?

A good day out. Chester is a great place to drink. Go there!

(Nearly) All Smiles in Yorkshire

It isn't that usual for me to spend a day drinking with the legendary Beer Hound, Tyson, late of this parish, but yesterday, in a persistent drizzle, I did. Huddersfield, considered by many to be a beer Nirvana was the destination. Naturally we warmed up a little first with a pint at Sinclairs in Manchester City Centre. Both of us felt that the Sam's Old Brewery Bitter was, on this occasion, just off the mark, but it set us up nicely for our rattly train trip over the Pennines.

Our first stop was the well known Rat and Ratchet. It is years since I've been there and Tyson had to be dragged off his usual wrong route to the place, which is admittedly in a bit of an awkward spot, being down a hill across a very busy ring road with many unforgiving motorists. It was quiet when we arrived and the welcome was warm from a knowledgeable barman. We sat in the main bar which has wooden floorboards and has a very cosy feel to it. We tried six or seven beers each, with for me, the stand out being the locally brewed mild from Mallinson's. The Ossett beers were excellent too in this Ossett tied house which does guests.

Next after a trek back up the hill and a hoof through a car park is the Grove, which neither of us had visited before. An end of terrace local, it has a lounge and a tap room and is done up simply but attractively, with many prints and cartoons on the wall. Around twelve cask beers were on offer and a number of draught foreign beers too. The eclectic beer list for bottles is umpteen pages long. Even the snack menu - and I'm talking packet snacks here - is nearly four pages long with some dangerous chilli concoctions and flavoured crickets being noteworthy. Cheese and Bacon cricket anyone? The menu advises you to have A & E on your speed dial before eating and may well not be kidding!

The super landlady was friendly and welcoming and guided us happily through the various offerings and made us feel most at home. The beer? More Mallinson's, this time Town Pride Bitter which was very bitter and various other halves of this and that including for me, Vale Black which was overpoweringly chocolatey. Then the landlady mentioned she had Moravka Lager, the krasnicove (unfiltered) version. We had both been keen to try this for ages and ordered two halves eagerly. We tried to like it. Honestly we did, but it had a strange spoiled fruit aroma and a slightly eggy taste did not add to the enjoyment. We should have tried the "ordinary" Moravka, but didn't realise it was on too until looking at the web site today. Much better was the excellent Jaipur IPA which for once was almost clear and had good body and condition as well as excellent bitterness. Reluctantly we took our leave, Tyson sighing about the lengthy list of things we simply didn't have time to try. We'll be back and you should go. It is a classic already. You could spend all day there and not tire of it. One odd thing though. All the cask beers are served through short necks and no sparklers. Strange for this part of the world. Their website is here.

It was all downhill from there, both literally and figuratively. In steady dripping rain we hoofed down to the Cherry Tree JDW as it is run by a regular at my local pub. Maybe for that reason the welcome was again warm and service was prompt. Pints of Phoenix Last Leaf were thoroughly enjoyed, though a taste of Abbott Special Reserve didn't make me keen to have any. It was easy from there on in. Just round the corner to our last two destinations, both on the platform of the station. The Head of Steam and the King's Head complement each other very nicely, though for me the sheer cosiness of the right hand bar of the Head of Steam takes some beating, though you'll probably find more interesting beers at the King's. A Swift One 's Beer Blog describes it all very well here, so I won't and my camera battery had died by then anyway. We drank E&S Beyond the Pale under the doleful eye of the dour Czech barmaid, who had obviously modelled herself on the sinister Polish lasses from Harry and Paul. We only found out where she was from by a long and challenging guessing game, where each guess was met with a single word "No". Not the merest hint of a smile was forthcoming as our guesses got wilder and wilder, though she did utter the word "Brazil?" with a modicum of disbelief. As we shrivelled under her withering gaze, we left and went to the barn like King's Head where we drank lots of something pale and hoppy - their speciality - and mine, though by now note taking and remembering was a thing of the past.

Back in Manchester common sense took over for me at least. Under Tyson's unerring guidance we weaved our way through the back streets to the Hunter's Indian Caff where rice and three sorted us out. No more beer for me, but Tyson is made of sterner stuff. He was off to meet a mate in the Northern Quarter for more liquid refreshment.

It was a good day. Apart from the Head of Steam - and perversely that made the visit all the more interesting and nothing could take away from the sheer comfort of the place - we were greeted warmly throughout by bar staff who were genuinely glad to see us and made us feel appreciated. Well done Huddersfield.

The Baum Rochdale

Now that I am more or less over my bout of flu or whatever it was, I felt the need to get out. Where to? Rochdale seemed like a plan, it being on a direct bus route, so Rochdale it was.
The Baum is in the 2009 Good Beer Guide and rightly so. The beer is well looked after and the place is terrific, with a sort of wine bar meets beer bar feel. It is in Toad Lane, the heart of the preservation area and one door up from the shop where the Rochdale Pioneers kicked off the co-operative movement in 1844. There's a bit of history for you! Now I am usually unlucky here. Whenever I go in I find the beers not to my liking, while looking wistfully at the pumpclip collection showing what I have missed and the notice board showing what is to come, all more appealing than the current offering. Yesterday was a little different. Greenfield Black Five was dark, malty with a distinct finishing hop bite and Hornbeam Hard Rock IPA while by no stretch of the imagination an IPA, was bitter, full bodied and very drinkable despite being 4,6%. A complete shock was that there was a drinkable Boggart beer on. I wasn't daft enough to stump up for it of course, but the barmaid gave me a decent enough sample. Stand up and be counted, Boggart - at last! Pixie Pale is hoppy, aromatic, tasty and only 3.4%. Nice! Do visit the Baum if you can, the beers were at the peak of cask conditioning and it is a very nice place indeed.

I couldn't leave Rochdale without trying another couple of GBG pubs. The Flying Horse had excellent Phoenix Arizona and a new one for me. Although Green Mill Brewery is in my branch area, I have never got my hands on any. Thus the chance to try Cobra Crystal Wheat Beer was welcome. It didn't disappoint, being spicy nosed and fairly bitter. In the JDW Regal Moon my choice was Bateman's Gold which had the usual Bateman's "house" taste lifted by excellent biscuity malt and a distinct hoppy finish. I finished with a fantastic strong mild. It was sensational, with a deep chocolate malt body and a vanilla finish. Pity I can't remember for the life of me who brews it!

Did I get a bad pint? Well I did, but congratulations first. Both the Baum and the Regal Moon served beers in absolutely perfect condition, at the right temperature and correctly through a tight sparkler. It is such a delight when you come across that. And the bad? Two actually. Both from Hornbeam Brewery whose Hard Rock IPA I had enjoyed in the Baum. Top Hop was at best OK if you were feeling really, really generous and Lemon Blossom was probably as bad a beer as I have had this year. Think of a cross between packet lemon meringue pie and citrus toilet cleaner and you'll be near. Drink for curiosity purposes only!

As always click on the photo for a better view!